landlocked gulfs being seldom 100 fathoms, and the deepest ocean
soundings giving less than 1000. The vast and solid structure looked
as light and airy as any suspension bridge across an Alpine ravine.
This gigantic viaduct, about 500 Martial years old, is still the most
magnificent achievement of engineering in this department. The main
roads, connecting important cities or forming the principal routes of
commerce in the absence of convenient river or sea carriage, are
carried over gulfs, streams, ravines, and valleys, and through hills,
as Terrestrial engineers have recently promised to carry railways over
the minor inequalities of ground. That which we were following is an
especially magnificent road, and signalised by several grand
exhibitions of engineering daring and genius. It runs from Amacasfe
for a thousand miles in one straight line direct as that of a Roman
road, and with but half-a-dozen changes of level in the whole
distance. It crossed in the space of a few miles a valley, or rather
dell, 200 feet in depth, and with semi-perpendicular sides, and a
stream wider than the Mississippi above the junction of the Ohio. Next
it traversed the precipitous side of a hill for a distance of three or
four miles, where Nature had not afforded foothold for a rabbit or a
squirrel. The stupendous bridges and the magnificent open road cut in
the side of the rock, its roof supported on the inside by the hill
itself, on the outside by pillars left at regular intervals when the
stone was cut, formed from one point a single splendid view. Pointing
it out to Enva, I was a little surprised to find her capable, under
the guidance of a few remarks from myself, of appreciating and taking
pride in the marvellous work of her race. In another place, a tunnel
pierced directly an intervening range of hills for about eight miles,
interrupted only in two points by short deep open cuttings. This
passage, unlike those on the river previously mentioned, was
constantly and brilliantly lighted. The whole road indeed was lit up
from the fall of the evening to the dispersion of the morning mist
with a brilliancy nearly equal to that of daylight. As I dared not
travel at a greater rate than twenty-five miles per hour--my
experience, though it enabled me to manage the carriage with
sufficient skill, not giving me confidence to push it to its greatest
speed--the journey must occupy several days. We had, therefore, to
rest at the stations provided b